School board considering changes to WFISD calendar, training

Wichita Falls Independent School District is mulling over several changes to their fiscal and school year calendars in efforts to make things easier for the district and for parents.

As a way to better help teachers develop throughout the school year, WFISD administrators asked the board of trustees to approve filing a waiver to allow the district to have staff development during the school year without impacting required instructional minutes.

The Texas Education Agency allowed for the 2018-19 school year a waiver that provides up to 2,100 total minutes to use for professional development for districts that provide operational and instructional minutes.

Debby Patterson, executive director of school administration, told board members the waiver is new, only applies to the next school year and has to be approved by TEA before the district adopts the school calendar for next year.

The time, which normally would have been used to meet the required 75,600 instructional minutes, can instead be used for professional development.

Patterson said the district was requesting 1,840 minutes total in their expedited application, which the board approved 6-0. Adam Groves was not present at Tuesday's work session.

Superintendent Michael Kuhrt said the minutes must be used for staff development – not teacher work days – and it has been found more effective to spread training throughout the year to reinforce and address issues.

Patterson said she isn't concerned with the district meeting the required minutes of instruction, since the district overbudgets time as a contingency plan.

Based on the proposed calendar from the committee, Patterson said the district has about 1,120 minutes available as a "safety net."

That amount of time equates to 2.54 full school days, nine late starts, one full day and five late starts, or two full days and two late starts – depending on weather or other issues a school might need to close.

The district is also looking at moving forward with the changes to the calendar for next school year, which included a full week off for students at Thanksgiving, fewer early release days, a later start for winter break, and a shift in spring break away from Midwestern State University's schedule.

The school board agreed to put the approval of the 2018-19 calendar on the consent agenda for Monday's meeting but didn't take final action on it at Tuesday's work session.

WFISD's chief financial officer also presented the board with a possible calendar change – this one being the start of the district's fiscal year.

Tim Sherrod said the move is one that has been requested by several principals and departments, and would help make budgeting easier.

The change would also align WFISD fiscal year to begin at the same time as the district's federal funds.

According to the Texas Education Code, the board of trustees of each district determines whether their district will begin on July 1 or Sept. 1 of each year.

If a district elects to move their start date, it must notify the TEA by June 30 of the year before the change goes into effect.

If approved by the school board, the start date of the fiscal year would move from Sept. 1 to July 1 for the 2019-20 school year.

Kuhrt said one major concern is that state funding might not be fully determined in legislative years, if they go to a special session, before the district starts its fiscal year.

"You're adopting a budget not knowing what that will look like," he told board members if that situation happens.

Two area school districts are among the 230 districts and charter schools around the state since 2002 that have changed its fiscal year to end on June 30. Henrietta and Holliday ISDs made the fiscal year change in 2002 and 2013, respectively.

Kuhrt said the change "makes it cleaner, makes it easier" for the district, since employees with 12-month contracts begin on July 1 each year.

Teachers and other staff who are 10-month employees – but paid out over the full year – typically begin their contracts on Sept. 1 and end on Aug. 31 for payroll purposes.

The trustees requested seeing what the budgets would look like for the transition year before making their final decision.

Kuhrt said the budget would remain the same, but the fiscal year would close out two months early during the transition year.

According to the TEA financial accountability system resource guide, all financial data reported during the transitional year must be based on a 12-month period, except for the annual financial report.

This requirement helps ensure state funding calculations are accurate – they are based on 12-month data, not 10-month data.

Sherrod told the trustees he didn't expect any costs associated with the change.

The board elected to place the fiscal year request on the consent agenda for Monday's meeting, pending the information they requested.